Soup's up and the bathroom's done

It's soup weather and I made a pot of soup with all the vegetables, plus vegetable broth, flavored with Better than Bouillon, smoked paprika, turmeric, cumin, lemon juice, salt and pepper. It's very good. 

Chickpea, mushrooms, spinach, kale, carrots, potatoes, chives, onion and garlic. I think that's all the veg spectrum in a bowl.

And Contractor Mike finished up the bathroom, which, newly painted, partly tiled, bathtub in use now, is so much better.

That insert in the wall is one Mike installed years ago at my request. It pops out and gives access to the plumbing behind the shower in the other en suite bathroom.  I also had him create a couple of other access panels like this, to save sledging walls in a plumbing emergency.

The bathtub is officially open 

Here's the insert, ready for use. See how low the step is, very useful.

And here you see how he hung the shower curtain to hang low enough to catch splashes.

He did a lot of detail work, new door hinges and switch plates, new caulking round tub, toilet, door, vanity. He kept finding just one more thing to improve before he finally declared it done. He's a meticulous craftsman.

And to our payment meeting, he brought homebaked pumpkin bread and a hot baked sweet potato. He's the family cook and we snapped tips and hints while doing business.

Someone commented yesterday on how lucky I was to afford the changes in the house. Hm. The more frugal I am, the luckier I get.  

I've been saving for years for this. Then all the savings were wiped out when I had to replace the heat pump at the condo. 

I started saving again. Then I applied the proceeds from selling the car to this end, and all's well. More planning and saving than luck, I'd say.  But it's all good. If it looks effortless, that's fine.

Yesterday I found this little guy waiting to either get indoors or be stepped on. 

I moved him to safety and hibernation. 

And here's a glimpse of the kind of passing scene I love, created by early morning sun.

My fall and winter project arrived

Tiny acrylic looms for creating woven leaf shapes.  I had thought of making them from cardboard, then decided it was better just to get the real thing and buy from an artisan. 

So watch this space. The little woven pouch I started will be finished soon. And these new tiny products are portable for the knitting group when I get there.

Happy day everyone. This about sums up where I am just now